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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

From the publisher:
The Internet is the greatest collaborative tool the world has ever known. It carries words and ideas across vast distances in mere milliseconds. Unfortunately, the Internet also makes your computers vulnerable to attack from almost any location on the planet. Every day, system crackers take advantage of vulnerable computers, turning them into spam relays or participants in distributed denial-of-service attacks, or using them to hide other unsavory activities. Network Security Hacks presents 100 industrial-strength techniques you can use to make sure that your networks are not a target of opportunity. These are real-world examples of tools and methods used by experts to protect their own computers and networks. Each hack can be read in just a few minutes, potentially saving you hours of research. Inside, you will find a wealth of useful techniques for detecting and dealing with intruders. Written for the intermediate to advanced network administrator, Network Security Hacks is full of practical, ingenious solutions to real-world networking situations and problems.

For those not familiar with the O'Reilly "Hacks" series, these are organized as a number of 1-3 page tutorials, each focusing on a very specific topic that are then grouped into larger "chapters". The key point being that they are not comprehensive manuals, but rather a loose assortment of "Tips & Tricks". So if you're a security newbie looking for a basic manual or a skilled admin trying to find a BIND compendium, then this probably isn't the right book for you.

That being said, the Network Security Hacks book has some really great walk-throughs to get you started on those projects that "you've really wanted to do, but never new how" like setting up IPSec, kernel-hardening with grsecurity, setting up keyless SSH logins, and automating Snort. It also covers some of the more basic topics like checking for running daemons with netstat, basic iptables and pf stuff.

One interesting feature of this book that set it apart was that it was fairly multi-platform, with sections covering Windows, BSD, and Linux.

It also has a fairly sizeable section devoted to Snort and covers topics like Snort inline, barnyard, deploying distributed Snort sensors, as well as others.

In general I would highly recommend any of the books in the "Hacks" series, including this one.